Of BLISTER BEETLES, Vesicants and Aphrodisiacs

What a topic!

May has arrived and with it a plethora of bugs, flowers and birds. One of the first beetles to be found in the sprouting grass looks like a miniature black cistern, large and heavy, moving slowly but with a great purpose to a destination known only to itself. 
Its head is large, the thorax narrower and the abdomen large and swollen with an internal cargo of eggs, soon to be deposited onto the new vegetation. 


 The abdomen is protected by a pair of hard wings (elytra) that, unlike in other beetles, cover only about 3/4 of the abdomen.

Meet Short-winged Blister Beetle, Meloe angusticollis.

There are thousands of  Blister Beetle species occurring of  all over the world. Some are colorful, some iridescent (or both) and some simply black (or violet black). 
They all have a thing in common: 
Upon feeling threatened they produce an agent  that, at best irritates the skin, at moderate causes painful blisters and at the worst kills an unfortunate creature that dares to play with the beetle or even consume it. As always, there are some species more potent than the others. Our Short-winged is not the worst but it still can cause some damage.

Have a closer look. There are brownish droplets of some semi-liquid substance on its wings and on its legs. 

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The droplets of the oozing liquid contain a powerful toxin, cantharidin. This is a substance that can cause skin damage and bleeding and gastrointestinal damage when ingested. It can damage kidneys to the state of no repair. 
Blistering agents are called vesicants.

 But, because cantharidin affects blood capillaries, it can also cause prolonged erections, acting as a dangerous aphrodisiac. Who and how tried it first remains undocumented. 
Do NOT try, a wrong dose could kill you.  Viagra might be a much better option!

There is a whole lot of reading about the blister beetles, cantharidin and various interesting tidbits related to the topic.
Little did I know, when, at the the very beginning of May, I met this creature in my yard.

I also discovered that it was probably on its way to lay a bunch of eggs on the plants in our garden where the bees would soon come to forage. The little blister beetle larvae would attach themselves to a bee and let it carry them to the bee's nest (there are many solitary bees out there and they are the most likely target of the blister beetle larvae). 
Once in the nest, the beetle larvae will parasitise on the bee larvae or at least eat all the food supplied for the young bees. 

There you have it - it is a complicated world out there. 
There is an excellent article about these creatures - just click HERE